Zyzzyva and other pleasant and not-so-pleasant changes to the OED
Growing up in a very American family, I often had to listen to actual, bona-fide, real exhortations on America’s principal compendium of words, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. “Look at this fine pinnacle of… Read more »
Third edition of the OED to be completed in 2034
According to the Telegraph, the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is not only over twenty years behind schedule, but also risks losing its place in print. Michael Proffitt, who… Read more »
The seamy underbelly of British lexicography
One harmless drudge at the Oxford English Dictionary turns out not to have been so harmless. Robert Burchfield, editor of the OED between 1972 and 1986, has always been seen as a… Read more »
No need to be lachrymose about children’s literacy
If some commentators are to be believed, we’ll soon be barking nothing but txtspk at one another, such is the degeneration of the English language in the hands of yoofs.… Read more »